Today, many commercial transportation industries are continuously looking for ways to increase operating efficiencies. One result is that traditional paper intensive processes are candidates for partial or complete replacement by software solutions. Accordingly, many commercial transportation industries are implementing information technology solutions to communicate information and data between mobile platforms and remote ground based stations to improve operational efficiency. These types of communication systems often involve transmission of data and information that requires verification that the communications received are from a trusted source. Thus, the transmission of the data and information, i.e., records, must be electronically signed by the sender, i.e., the source. However, communication links between a mobile platform, e.g., aircraft, train, bus, ship, etc., and a remote ground based communication center or station are often established and maintained on a temporally limited and sporadic basis. That is, the mobile platforms are not typically in constant communication, or constantly connected, with the remote communications stations such that the transmissions of data are asynchronous. Specifically, bidirectional communication between a mobile platform and a remote communication station may have significant delays, e.g., 24 hours or more, between one entity sending a message, e.g. data packages, and that entity receiving a response to the message.
Furthermore, such commercial transportation industries must often satisfy regulatory requirements with regard to signing information transmitted by personnel onboard the mobile platforms and at the remote communication stations. To satisfy such regulatory requirements, common practice would dictate that personal digital certificates be issued for each user. However, this would require that the mobile platform and the remote communication station be in constant communication in order to achieve user validation at the time the communication, i.e., message or report, is electronically signed by the person originating the communication. Accordingly, the typical asynchronous communications that are common between the mobile platform and remote communication station are not conducive to using personal digital certificates to verify the trustworthiness of such communications. Furthermore, use of digital certificates would require issuing, constant updating and the storing of digital certificate credentials, at both the mobile platform and remote communication station, for all personnel who are authorized to sign such communications. Such requirements are onerous and can cause delays in timely operation of the mobile platform.